1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to magnetic heads having inductive write head structures, and more particularly to such magnetic heads having heat sink structures formed therein for the dissipation of heat generated by the inductive write head.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hard disk drives include magnetic heads that are designed to write data onto narrow data tracks upon the data disk of the disk drive, and to read data from the narrow data tracks. The ongoing effort to increase the areal data storage density of the hard disk drive results in the development and usage of ever smaller and increasingly delicate magnetic pole tips and magnetoresistive sensors for writing and reading increasingly smaller data bits onto the disk.
As is well known, the data writing process involves the use of an induction coil to generate magnetic fields within the magnetic poles of the write head, and the electrical current within the induction coil generates a significant amount of heat. The delicate pole tips and magnetoresistive sensor structures are increasingly susceptible to heat caused malfunction and damage as the size of these structures is diminished. It is therefore desirable to incorporate heat sink structures within the magnetic head that function to draw the unwanted heat away from the delicate magnetic head structures in order to promote operational reliability of the magnetic head, and to facilitate the development of smaller pole tips and sensor structures. The magnetic head of the present invention includes such heat sink structures, as is described hereinbelow.